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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Beverly Gray is a fascinating author, film historian, and blogger who spent time in the trenches at Roger Corman's New World Pictures and Concorde-New Horizons Pictures from the 70's into the 90's. She's written biographies on Roger Corman and Corman grad Ron Howard, and she posts fascinating articles about her career, life, and film and pop culture in general over at the marvelous Beverly in Movieland. I found her blog while doing some online research for a Roger Corman blog post here at LGOOH, and we've since become online acquaintances. Ms. Gray graciously agreed to an interview and as you'll see - she's a terrific conversationalist.

Beverly Gray

Craig Edwards:When and where did the world gain a Beverly Gray?

Beverly Gray: I assume you’re talking about me, but I’ve discovered there are lots of Beverly Grays in the world. One teaches cello in Scotland; one is involved in equestrian events; one lectures on the Underground Railroad. There’s also a series of girls’ books, dating from the 1920s, called the Beverly Gray series, by Clair Blank. Beverly is an intrepid red-headed reporter who solves mysteries all over the world. None of these Beverly Grays is me, or even close. Happily for me, I do not date from the 1920s. I was born in Hollywood, California around the middle of the last century, which makes me a Baby Boomer in good standing.

Not the Beverly Gray we're concerned with here,
but we will see this post's subject at a World's Fair...

CE:What are your earliest pop culture memories?

BG: At about the time I started kindergarten, my mom announced that we were going to see a movie with another mother and her son, who was just my age. The movie, I was told, was called Hans Christian Andersen. Because a five-year-old boy would be coming along, I immediately assumed this must be some sort of cowboy movie. So much for gender stereotyping. The film, of course, was a Frank Loesser musical starring Danny Kaye as the great Danish author. I’ve never forgotten it.

Ms. Gray at 4 years of age, working under the tutelage of famous dancer
and choreographer Carmen De Lavallade, who later went on to acting roles
in films like John Sayles's Lone Star.
Photo courtesy Beverly Gray.

CE:When did you know you wanted to work in the entertainment industry?

BG: Actually, though I was always fascinated by Hollywood glamour, I never planned on an entertainment industry career. I have always adored live theatre, and much of my youth was spent (or perhaps misspent) reading plays and acting in stage productions. But by the time I started college it was clear to me that I was not cut out for the precarious life of an actor. I loved reading and I loved campus life, which led me to fantasize about teaching literature at some ivy-covered college. That’s the reason I earned my PhD in American lit. My entry into the film business was completely accidental. (See below.)

Beverly Gray at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. Here's her description of the picture:
"I was one of 56 young American guides working under the auspices of the U.S. State Department.
Until recently Expo 70 was the biggest world’s fair of all time. Visitors lined up for hours to see U.S.
space program memorabilia, including the moon rock that U.S. astronauts had just brought back from
the Apollo 11 mission. Here I am explaining in Japanese the story of the Apollo 8 capsule directly
behind me: Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon."
Photo courtesy Beverly Gray.

CE:How did you go about breaking in to the entertainment industry?

BG: As a graduate student, I decided that, in addition to writing academic papers for my profs, I would also enjoy writing smart, witty theatre reviews that would be read by my fellow students. I volunteered, but the arts editor at the UCLA Daily Bruin was a theatre snob, and decided I was too much of a novice to cover drama. That’s why he sent me to the movies, and I spent several years writing mostly movie reviews. When Roger Corman needed a new assistant, he contacted (in typical Roger fashion) the faculty head of UCLA’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter. The prof knew nothing about Roger, but did know that I – one of his department’s grad students – had an interest in movies and popular culture. He recommended me for a job interview, and the rest is history.

CE:What was the first project you worked on?

BG: At Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, you worked on many projects at the same time. The first screenplay I ever read was Charles Willeford’s script for Cockfighter. On my very first day I was asked to make extensive notes on Cockfighter in preparation for a story meeting, but I also quickly found myself writing press releases for Caged Heat, working on a nurse movie, and helping to chart the distribution of our films in drive-ins across the nation.

CE:Which film project are you most proud to have been associated with?

BG: From the early days, I’m most proud of Death Race 2000, because I never expected it to become a cult classic. Roger has credited me with thinking up the twist ending, which is definitely something I remember fondly. Later I worked on some 170 projects of varying quality, but I’m proud of staying (relatively) sane throughout it all. On one memorable December day, I earned two screenwriting credits by turning in rewrites of two very different scripts ( a martial-arts flick and a Spanish ghost story) initiated by others.

A classic.

CE: I love Death Race 2000 - another movie I've purchased about four times now in different formats! What project are you least proud of?

BG: Not sure I can answer, because of those 170 low-budget films (give or take a few), some of which were ground out under very trying circumstances. But I’ll always be embarrassed about my short stint as a reader (the lowest of the low) at Interscope Pictures. I was asked to make a judgment on the quality of the writing in Emma Thompson’s adaptation of the wonderful Jane Austen novel, Sense and Sensibility. Knowing that I was expected to be as harsh as possible and that I had less than a day to read the script and turn in my report, I quickly found all sorts of things to criticize. Later, long after Thompson won an Oscar for her adapted screenplay, I re-read the novel and then the published version of the script. In an article for Creative Screenwriting, I was glad to set the record straight, noting just how capably Thompson had brought Austen’s work to the screen. One of these days, I plan to tell that story in greater detail in Beverly in Movieland.

CE:I look forward to it! What was the closest thing to a typical day working for Roger Corman?

BG: There was no such thing as a typical day. That’s what made working for Roger Corman so much fun. Once I walked into his office and found several ballerinas in full Swan Lake regalia perched on his desk en pointe. (They were shooting a magazine spread.) Normally I myself read through mountains of scripts, wrote copious script notes, and had long meetings with writers, but I also interacted with directors, sat in on casting sessions, discussed upcoming projects with Roger, and went to the Corman studio to play small roles in a number of films. We were frequently in crisis mode, but we also laughed a lot.

CE: You've written a wonderful biography of Ron Howard.

BG: Thanks!

CE:Is he the best filmmaker to have graduated from The Corman Academy? If not him, then who?

BG: Quite a question! Ron Howard is perhaps the top all-around commercial filmmaker who came out of Cormanville. The variety of his output is extraordinary, and he’s also functioned very well as an executive, given his longtime co-leadership (along with Brian Grazer) of Imagine Entertainment. I suspect that not everyone knows how much he’s contributed to television as well as movies. (See Arrested Development and From the Earth to the Moon as prime examples.) But I’m certainly not going to say Ron Howard’s a better filmmaker than Francis Ford Coppola in his prime, and I believe no one can match the cinematic genius of Martin Scorsese when he’s at the top of his game. James Cameron’s talent for spectacle can’t be overlooked, and I’m also partial to John Sayles’ totally independent approach. Just don’t ask me to name a “best”!

CE: Okay, we'll leave it at that! What is your greatest unfulfilled ambition in the film industry?

BG: One day, if I find the right collaborator, I’d like to see if I can turn out a really excellent screenplay on a topic of interest to me. Something where the emphasis is on human relationships, perhaps, rather than on action and sex scenes.

CE: There is a good story behind your son appearing in this prop photo from Slumber Party Massacre III - how did that come about?

BG: Over at Beverly in Movieland, I tell that story in my “My Son the Serial Killer” post. Here's a link to it:

CE:That's a wild story - and a great post!Four words."The Hollywood Sign is..." Please finish that with 25 words.

BG: . . . the closest thing we have to a true Hollywood landmark. It’s essentially meaningless, but its allure speaks volumes about the magic of the film industry.

CE:Tell us something we don't know about Roger Corman.

BG: He was proud of how long he held on to his wardrobe. That meant some of his sweaters were threadbare, and (since he liked to take his shoes off) it was not unusual to see his toes poking through the holes in his socks.

Not Roger Corman's feet.

CE:For those who’d like to know more about Roger Corman, what books do you suggest?

BG: Roger’s own book, with Jim Jerome, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, is an excellent introduction to the way Roger’s mind works. It’s also a highly entertaining read. But no one should take it as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Understandably, Roger’s memory is selective, and he also chooses not to go very deeply into the question of what makes him tick. For that, I modestly recommend my own book, which in its paperback edition is titled Roger Corman: Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers. I’m now working on a major update, which I plan to publish as an Ebook in the near future, but it’s also worth seeking out the paperback or the original hardcover (Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking) to see what it is that Corman alumni love about my work.

BG: Another tough one. I like sunny-side-up eggs; I like oatmeal (or what the Irish call porridge). But if we’re talking about perfection, I think I’ll go continental, and order a good cappuccino with a perfect croissant, the kind that’s hard to find because it’s so crisp and buttery that it shatters when you bite into it. With very freshly squeezed orange juice, of course.

CE:Yummy!What are you up to these days?

BG: Currently my greatest passion is for my blog, Beverly in Movieland. I’ve just finished taking charge of an international biographers’ conference, and now it’s high time for me to go back to my own major projects. I am adapting my biography, Roger Corman: Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers, into that expanded and updated Ebook, as I mentioned. I have also written a book-length manuscript about the Sixties and the impact of moviegoing on the Baby Boom generation. It needs some reshaping and rethinking, which is another important goal for me right now. Thanks for asking!

CE:You're welcome! Last question - what is the best piece of advice you can give to someone starting out in the entertainment business?

BG: I was asked this question many years ago, by an eager English major who was taking one of my literature courses at UCLA and who requested a formal meeting to discuss her career goals. I didn’t feel then (and I really don’t feel now) that I possessed the key to success in Hollywood. But I thought I had a good piece of advice for her: if you’re determined to become a screenwriter, just be sure you’ve got a marketable skill that will help you keep body and soul together while you work toward your big break. I hoped she would take my words to heart. In fact, she quickly responded, “Oh yes, I’ve already thought of that.” I assumed she had in mind something totally pragmatic, like expertise in data processing. Instead she proudly announced, “I’m going to be a journalist!” As a journalist myself, I would never bet on a writing career as a steady source of income. Maybe she made it work for her, but I wouldn’t know: I’ve never heard from her since.

Wow, now that's an interview! I want to thank Ms. Gray for taking time out of her busy schedule to chat with me!

One thing missing from this interview is a question about Beverly's wonderful talent as a teacher and mentor. Her screenwriting classes through UCLA University Extension have been a source of inspiration and encouragement to countless aspiring screenwriters. She brings her incisive critical mind to every student's work, sparing no one either a sharp knife for cutting or a shrewd suggestion for improvement.

I apologize about that - but thanks for taking up my slack - I had scads of other questions I could have asked - but didn't want to impose too much on Ms. Gray's time - maybe if she agrees to a sequel interview in a few months we can touch on those teaching skills - which sound as impressive as the rest of Beverly Gray's considerable talents. Cheers!

Thank you Mel! Ms. Gray's blog is a treasure trove of information on so much film activity I'm enamored of - and she was actually there for it! I literally yelped with joy when she agreed to this interview!

What a great interview. A perfect example for host on how to ask a question to celebrity who illustrate their entire life and also for celebrity too on how to answer their questions wisely. Great job done Mr. Craig

Thank you for the kind words - but it was all you! Your appearance here has definitely classed up the joint - I can never thank you enough for taking the time for this interview. I truly hope we can do another sometime - possibly focus more on one project you enjoyed working on, or something of that nature - because chatting with you is a good time!

Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce was established in the year 2014, in Hyderabad, Telangana State, to cater the needs of the tollywood Art and Craft. Represent by its President Mr. Pratani Rama Krishana Goud, who has vast exprience in the film industries as an Actor, Producer, Director, Exhibitor.Telangana Film Chamber and Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce

About Me

A word of warning...

Although I try to be circumspect in revealing too much about the various things I speak of here...it is always possible there could be a SPOILERin any of the postings at any time...Read At Your Own Risk!